Regardless of what "Poll Tax" may have meant in the 20th century, as it applied in the 17th and 18th centuries was as a form of personal property tax, not a voting tax. Poll Tax, as it was applied in Colonial times, was a tax placed on all males over a certain age -- the age of which varied by state and timeframe. Additionally, the vast majority of the time, all slaves -- male and female, regardless of age -- were assessed for a poll tax against their owner. Needless to say, slaves couldn't vote -- yet they were subject to "Poll Tax" -- so clearly Poll Tax as applied then had nothing to do with voting. In fact, Voting certification was for the most part confined to Land Ownership, not Poll Tax. If you owned land in a district, and your Land taxes (not Poll taxes) were current in payment, you were eligible to vote in that district. Unlike today, if you owned land in more than one district, you were allowed to vote multiple times -- one per district in which you owned land. There are many contemporary diaries and memorials written that describe landowners making the rounds on voting day to the various districts that they owned land in to vote at each election station. Paying Poll Tax in the 17th & 18th century most often did not allow you to vote -- owning & paying taxes on land did. Today, you must live in Cook County Illinois to vote multiple times :-) From a Poll Tax list, what you can obtain is: 1) the head of household and their condition / employment -- many categories were exempt from poll tax, at various times & locations specifically elderly & infirm, ministers / clergy, militia officers, militia members on duty / deployed, public servants (judges, clerks, sheriff, etc.), lunatic / mental illness, paupers, disabled, and widows & orphans. 2) number of slaves -- most locations charged poll on the total number of slaves, although it may also be found to charge on slaves over a certain age, usually based on the slave being old enough to effectively provide work. 3) number of white males over a particular age -- if a non-related person was living at a household, say as a field hand or overseer, the head of household was still almost always responsible for paying that person's poll tax. Typically this non-relative, and for that matter any males over the threshold age -- were listed in the same tax line as the head of household. 4) Widows with males over the threshold age, but not heads of house themselves, may or may not pay poll tax depending on the location and timeframe. Some places exempted widows & orphans altogether -- others exempted widows, but not any sons over the minimum. Widows generally had to pay poll on any non-related males over the threshold who were working / boarding with them. They generally had to pay all polls on slaves. As noted, the exact age cutoffs, exemption clauses and categories change between localities & timeframes, so it is always a good idea to check what rules were in effect for a particular tax list. Sincerely, Ken Shelton > Karen-- > > As a "victim" of unjust voting laws in TX back in 1960 at age 21, I was > denied the privilege of voting in my "first" election due to the fact > that my husband was in the Air Force and registered in the State of MD. > I was in my last trimester of pregnancy with my 1st child and was unable > to travel back there to register in MD and the State of TX said I > couldn't vote because I didn't own property--i.e. land, house, etc. > Poll taxes made it so only Rich White Males could vote. There were many > other restrictions depending on which state you lived in. In other > words, only the "educated elite" could vote. > > Ann Propst, Brevard, NC > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2004 11:40 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [RowanRoots] Early NC poll tax > > What exactly is a poll tax? If someone had poll written behind their > name > in 1778 does that mean someone is paying poll tax on them or are they > paying > poll tax on someone? Thank you. Karen > > > > > ==== ROWANROOTS Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from RowanRoots-L send a message from the address you subscribed > from to [email protected] with the word unsubscribe in the > message body. >